Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Ideas for a video projector

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Posted by Ray Bernardi (Member # 1615) on 06-10-2003, 09:09 AM:

I just picked up a 3300 lumen Proxima Video Projector. Nice unit. I want to use it for pre-show entertainment and to host meeting functions. I'd also like to use it for b-day parties and video game parties at the theatre. I'm looking for suggestions and comments, warnings etc. about using a video projector like this. Any input is welcome, positive or negative.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 06-10-2003, 10:47 AM:

Be careful about what you show on it. You don't want the MPAA anti-piracy police after you. [Smile]

Also, be careful with lamp life. The bulbs (usually HMI) that are used in most video projectors tend to be very expensive to replace (more than xenons).

The video-game parties sound like fun, especially now that you have a killer sound system.

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 06-10-2003, 12:07 PM:

If Ray's new machine is a DP8000 or DP9290 (3000 or 3500 lumen Proxima series) the bulb is a 200-270W UHP (Ultra High Pressure) Mercury arc rated at 1500 hours. Typically around the low $300's US.

One caution: It's probably best to not try to run beyond the rated lamp life--if the bulb explodes it can damage the LCD imager panels and/or the dichroic splitter optics--a rather expensive non-warranty repair job from what I've heard.

All in all it looks like a decent machine for Ray's application.

Posted by Jeff Taylor (Member # 443) on 06-10-2003, 01:52 PM:

This may sound like defeating the purpose of your 3000 lumens, but most of those projectors have an "economy" or "hush" mode that roughly doubles the lamp life. On my little 1500 lumen Viewsonic I really can't see the difference in light output for the uses I put it to (trade shows in well lighted venues). BTW, Ray, I hope your projector doesn't have the typical very short focal length lens assuming you're going to run it from a booth.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 06-10-2003, 05:52 PM:

I have a SharpVision projector that's about 800 lumens and uses a Metal Halide lamp. This past year, it's had a hard time striking and has little yellow "bubbles" inside the lamp's glass but one it gets lit, it puts on a nice picture. I've had the unit with its original lamp for about 5 years now, and it's probably WAAAAAY past its 2,000 hour rating but I just can't shell out $300 for a bulb right now. [Frown]

Metal Halides don't explode, do they? [eyes]

=TMP=

Posted by Ray Bernardi (Member # 1615) on 06-11-2003, 07:31 AM:

It's a Proxima AV9400+ rated at 3300 lumens.

I think it does have the standard lens in it. I knew that when I bought it and I know a new lens is expensive. I think I may have to change it out but I'm not sure yet. I throw about 40 feet from the booth, the projector has a zoom feature which allows me to make the image bigger or smaller within a range. I'll have to see if it's acceptable.

I do know to be careful about what I show. I wont run any DVDs or movies without contacting the distributor and licencing the event. I like my theatre and I'd like to keep it above board, and open!

The b-day party idea with big screen video games seems to be a winner. A lot of people have said they would be interested in that. I may have a Saturday open house where I run it up and allow people to come in free and let the kids play for a little while. Let them see it and they might want it and talk about it.

I had a person ask me this, and I didn't know how to answer it. We were talking about playing a DVD.

I explained I couldn't charge for tickets for an unauthorized show, and he replied...

"So what if I rent the theatre from you, hand you the DVD to play for me, and invite my friends over to watch it with me?"

I said I'd need to look into that because it still might be an unauthorized showing. Then we went back and forth on it. If I'm not open to the public and not selling tickets for the event, wouldn't it be just like doing a birthday party and showing the kids a movie during it?

It's fuzzy to me and I can't do it if it's fuzzy, I need to know it's okay. Any comments on the above?

I'm putting together a presentation of capabilities that I'm going to invite local businesses to attend. I'm also going to invite the Chamber of Commerce.

It'll take me a while to polish it up enough to show so that gives me time to work out these details about what I can and can't do.

Have a great day all.

Posted by Joshua Lott (Member # 240) on 06-11-2003, 06:22 PM:

Ray,

Contact Swank.com

They can handle the licensing for either a flat rate or ticketed event.

You can check out a list of available product on their website.

Posted by Ray Bernardi (Member # 1615) on 06-12-2003, 12:27 PM:

Thanks Joshua - nice link.

Posted by Jeff Taylor (Member # 443) on 06-13-2003, 08:45 AM:

Thomas: Those ultra high pressure metal halide lamps can explode and in the process can wipe out the image panels. Those hour meters and the cautions about changing the lamps are there for a reason!

Posted by Joshua Lott (Member # 240) on 06-13-2003, 05:20 PM:

Ray,

Another thing that you might want to look into is doing Super Bowl and other sports party's.

You can have the event catered and serve beer!

I am not sure what you would have to pay for the rights to charge to something like that... but it would be worth while looking in to.

Posted by Bob Peticolas (Member # 328) on 06-13-2003, 09:16 PM:

Ray, here are a couple of things that we have done:

"Academy Award Party". We got the local cable company to donate a cable feed and projected the awards program on the big screen. $10 a head, we provided cake and door prizes. People drew a "winner" slip as they came in and the winner got a prize (donated by local merchants, of course).

"Rocky Horror Picture Show". If your theater can handle it, this is a great money maker. Prints are scarce and getting old, we bought the DVD from a local book store, contracted with the distributor (normal rates) and sold out three years running on halloween!

Backup for when a film dosen't arrive (never happens, does it?). Twice now, prints haven't arrived by show time on Friday night (our new feature night). With Thursdays print torn down and usually shipped out we fell back on the "screener" VHS tape. Some of these are very clean, some have timecode on the bottom, some have logos that flash on and off. The ones with timecode on the bottom, we just zoom the picture to drop the timecode on the lower masking. We tell people as they come in what's up with showing video and have about a 99% "stay" rate.

We did spend $1,100 for a telephoto lens for our Proxmia projector due to our 45 foot throw, but it was worth it. Our screen is 9 1/2' by 22' or so (depends on the 'scope masking) so we can fill it easily even with a letterboxed DVD.

I hate ads before the feature, but a video guided tour of our town (paid for by merchants that we visit) is not that bad. No out-and-out ads, just visiting the store and shops around us (we are situated in a very tourist oriented area). We hope to get this up and running soon.

Good luck,

bob

Posted by Steve Anderson (Member # 364) on 06-21-2003, 07:34 PM:

We have a video projector at our theater, which when requested is used to play movies for private parties. Works great for us $$ [thumbsup]

Posted by Paul Konen (Member # 41) on 06-23-2003, 09:33 AM:

We just did a test last week with a company to do live events displayed through the DLP projector. The content was delivered through a dedicated fiber optic link (270 Mbps) from LA to the theatre and displayed in 720p HD.

Very nice picture and sound.

Posted by Mike Fitzgerald (Member # 1304) on 07-07-2003, 08:57 PM:

Ray what is the latest on the video projector.